Essential Vitamins & Minerals for Your Horse

What vitamins and minerals are essential for your horse and why should you not overfeed them?

Vitamins and minerals are not only what humans need to function but horses too. If you’re new to the equine lifestyle you may be asking yourself, “What vitamins and minerals are essential for my horse?”

Minerals:

Minerals are nutrients that are needed in small amounts by most life, including horses. Your horse's mineral requirements can be based on their age, weight, physical condition, activity level and performance.

The major minerals needed include:

• Calcium
• Sulfur
• Magnesium
• Phosphorus
• Sodium
• Chloride
• Potassium

Along with trace minerals which are needed in even smaller amounts than major minerals such as:

•  Zinc
• Iron
• Selenium
• Copper
• Iodine
• Cobalt
• Manganese

This content can vary in feed levels. It is important to consider certain ratios within the amount of trace minerals that you feed to your horse. Example: Normal Calcium to Phosphate ratio should be 2:1 but this need can vary widely depending on a variety of factors.

Mares who are lactating, and young horses who are growing quickly will require a different amount of certain minerals than other horses so it’s best to check with your veterinarian to find out what regiment works best for your horse.

Mineral content needed can vary largely with soil type, species of forage and the level of maturity during the harvest of the crop. The goal in supplementation is to avoid deficiencies caused by low levels of these minerals in the environment. So you must think about the amount of minerals you are providing along with the amount that is rationed in feed and forage materials.

Incorrect ratios of calcium and phosphorus can cause bone disorders in the young, and orthopedic issues in young horses.

Quality forage materials normally contain an adequate amount of manganese, potassium, and sulfur with many of the horse's sodium and calcium needs being met through salt and electrolyte supplements. Just like athletes require electrolytes, performance horses that sweat a lot may need to have potassium, calcium and sodium added to their diets to help replace the excess amount of minerals lost through sweat.  

Make sure to keep selenium levels in check. Too much selenium can be toxic to your horse. It is important to know the mineral needs of your horse to prevent both under and overfeeding them.

It may be a good idea to use mineral supplements to help meet the needs of your horse. This allows you to use the supplement with your feed and avoid going over tolerance levels. There are many ways that you can provide minerals:

• Trace mineral salt:
  • This comes in two forms loose and block and normally contains sodium, calcium, and other trace minerals. It’s always best to encourage your horse to have free choice intake of these minerals to reach their needs. Trace minerals can vary pretty largely in each mix. It is recommended that if you provide trace mineral salt that you do not provide any other sources of salt to your horse. This way of ensuring supplementation is also considered to be the least effective and dependable as each horse can eat a different amount making it difficult to track how much each one receives.

     

• Complete mineral supplement:
  • These contain varying amounts of both trace and major minerals. The amount that your horse should take can be found in the recommendations on label along with any recommendations by your veterinarian. In general, these are daily supplements and make sure that each horse gets the correct recommended daily amount of each mineral.

     

• Grain Mixes:
  • Many grain mixes contain the daily amount needed of these minerals when feeding the recommended amount making it unnecessary to feed other supplemental options.

Vitamins:

Just like humans, horses also need vitamins to survive. Again, these are also needed in very small amounts. Necessary vitamins for horses include vitamin A, D, K, E, C, and B-complex vitamins such as riboflavin and thiamin.

These are all important in a healthy metabolism and supplementing these vitamins can have its advantages.

• Vitamins A and E:
  • Found in green forage materials like grass and newly harvested hay. Many horses that graze regularly will have their needs met naturally and will require little to no supplementation. During fall, winter and early spring as the grasses die, supplementation may be required. These can also be found in commercial grain mixes.

     

• Vitamin D:
  • Horses can meet their vitamin D levels by spending a daily amount of 4 to 6 hours outside.

     

• Vitamins such as B-complex, C and K:
  • A horses need for these vitamins are usually met through feed and foraging. There is no daily listed need for these vitamins meaning that most horses do not require supplementation. 

If you are curious and would like to learn more about your horse's supplementation needs, we recommend that you talk with your veterinarian. They can help you find the perfect supplement, grain and feed to fit the needs of your horse.

Find supplements, feed, and more in-store and online at www.southtexastack.com!